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MOVIES BY timeslot: Silent Wednesdays Music Thursdays Friday Double Features Friday Midnights Early Saturdays Late Saturdays

1/08 @ 8pm
Wholpin No. 7 DVD Release Party
Join us for Wholphin's return to the The Cinefamily, to celebrate the release of both Wholphin No. 7 and the Best of Wholphin Volume 1, two of the latest DVDs of shorts, docs and uncategorizable films curated by the folks at McSweeney's. Among the picks to be screened are: the early Gus Van Sant short The Discipline Of D.E., based on a William S. Burroughs short story; the documentary Nutkin's Last Stand, about England's fight to save her beloved red squirrels from invasion by the American grey squirrels; and, the gorgeous in-house Wholpin production Look At The Sun, an incredibly close look at the sun in its most gorgeous and inactive state. Also featured are Academy Award-winning shorts, UFOs, giant squid, and a live, interactive scientific experiment in retroactive causality, in which the audience, just by watching, will help to determine the role of consciousness in the establishment of a physical reality.
Tickets - $10

1/13 @ 8pm
Jerry Beck presents Juvenile Mindrot: Inappropriate and Disturbing Kids' Cartoons
Too violent, too scary, too depressing and no longer suitable for kids! Animation historian Jerry Beck returns with a full program of classic cartoons both no longer shown on television, and not on DVD. Originally made for children, these roasters are no longer appropriate for small fry, whether it's because of the violence, cross dressing, smoking, sexism, or just straight-up bizarre ingredients contained within. If your childhood wasn't already perverted by hours upon hours of unhinged animation, this show will make it up to you. Ultra-rare 16mm and 35mm prints will be screened--bring your kids at your own risk.
Tickets - $13

1/18 @ 6pm
The Five Minutes Game: VHS R.I.P. Edition + M.L.K. Weekend BBQ
On December 22nd, 2008, The Los Angeles Times officially declared the VHS medium as "dead". Groundbreaking news, you interject? Their point was that the very last VHS wholesaler in the country has finally stopped selling pre-recorded tapes--that this moment truly marks the end of an era. In memory of this life-changing medium, we present another installment of The Five Minutes Game. We're firm believers in "Every movie is interesting for at least its first five minutes", those fascinating moments when you're still entering the new world a film presents you, and trying to figure out what the hell's going on. What we're gonna do is choose fifteen movies you've likely never seen before, selected from the decaying ruins of the few remaining mom-n-pop video stores out there (with most, if not all the films unavailable on DVD), line 'em up, and only show you the first five minutes of each, not counting their opening credits. After all that, you, the audience, gets to vote on which film out of the fifteen we all then watch in its entirety. So, bring something to cook on our patio grill, and let's get started!
Tickets - $10

1/27 @ 8pm
T.V. Tuesday: True Crime Edition
Since Halloween is the favorite holiday of millions of Americans, and since advertisers love to flog the hell out of Halloween, there exists a bounty of creepy commercials, scary "special" episodes and terrifying TV movies all centered around the mischevious dark spirit that drives All Hallows' Eve. We promise a magical night where every flip of the channel lands you on lost eerie emissions you can't seem to look away from. We've got at least two great '70s horror TV movies, and a whole mess of stuff you can barely remember, or can't believe existed. Bring your favorite snacks, join our couch and snuggle up, 'cause it's TV Tuesday: The True Crime Edition!
Tickets - $10

1/30 @ Midnight
Dangerous Men
Forgot Troll 2, forget the filmography of Ed Wood, forget even The Visitor--Dangerous Men is the holiest of all Holyfuckingshits. Trying to describe this film to those who haven't seen it is a nearly pointless exercise--even director John S. Rad himself relied on a cacophony of mixed adjectives in his great tagline "An unforgettable comedy suspense, mystery drama" (not our comma). In its initial mysterious one-week L.A. theatrical run, in which it was booked into EIGHT theaters in the same arthouse chain, this inexplicable-in-every-way film was viewed by literally about 50 people. These intrepid viewers, whenever they run into each other at a party or BBQ, will swap stories like veterans of a great war battle, eagerly recounting practically every scene in the picture in minute detail to each other, in no particular order of awesomeness, savoring every memory. Just for you (and us), we've plucked the film from the clutches of oblivion to give to you one of the most singularly unique movie experiences you've had in years, so that you too may join the cult, and find yourself muttering the code words "Dangerous Men" to strangers.
Dir. John S. Rad, 2005, 35mm, 80 min.
Tickets - $10

2/3 @ 8pm
The Cocoa Screenings: Founding Fathers of Found Footage Films
The modern world is thoroughly converted to the validity of using "found" media as one's medium, from hip-hop sampling and teenagers on YouTube to art galleries and museums. But fifty years ago, this was not commonplace. The pioneers of perverting other people's intellectual property invented a whole new art form, recontextualizing through montage, creating new significance that lied dormant in otherwise neutral footage. In the bourgeoning days of Pop Art, these spiritual descendants of Duchamp and his readymades found a new language of cinema through creative theft. Besides, why hustle to raise the bread to buy raw film stock, or to go to deepest Africa, or to restage the Hindenburg explosion--when there's all this glorious discarded footage in the garbage bins behind the processing lab? For this calendar's "Cocoa Screening", we've programmed an assemblage of ground-breaking found footage films that'll tour you through some of the earliest artifacts of this now ubiqitous art form. You may be wondering, why is this a "Cocoa Screening"? Well, we've decided there's one important thing missing from our evenings of experimental film, perhaps from all evenings of artistic appreciation -- the comforting bliss of a warm, sweet beverage. So we hereby begin The Cocoa Screenings, a semi-regular series of evenings of fun art and good taste. The taste of hot cocoa, that is.
Tickets - $12

2/8 @ 8pm
Family presents: An Evening With Mike Mills
Once a month The Cinefamily will host "Family Sundays", where our good friends at Family Bookstore (just down the road!) will bring in their favorite people--artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, comedians, or generally inspiring folk--to curate and introduce a night of films. First, they'll show lesser-seen short films that they've made, or that have been made about them--or that they just like. Afterwards, they'll show a feature that has personally influenced them, and finally they'll explain it all and take your questions too. This Sunday, Family brings us artist/designer/filmaker Mike Mills, who's directed music videos for Sonic Youth, Yoko Ono, Beastie Boys, Blonde Redhead and Ol' Dirty Bastard, as well as the film Thumbsucker, and the documentaries Does Your Soul Have a Cold? and Deformer (about artist/skater Ed Templeton). Medium is less important to Mills' work than an encompassing vision that permeates all his diverse projects. Whether it's a television commercial, a watercolor painting, or a fabric design, everything Mills concocts is suffused by his current emotional and spiritual disposition. He has chosen to show and share his thoughts about István Szabó's Lovefilm, a lesser-known 1970 masterpiece from the Czech New Wave.
Lovefilm Dir. István Szabó, 1970, digital presentation, 123 min.
Tickets - $12

2/14 @ 8pm
Seventh Heaven
Archival 35mm print courtesy of Fox

"This exquisite tale of mystical romance stresses the redemptive side of couplehood so persuasively that otherworldly connotations, like the strong ray of light that literally shines down on them after their various trials, seem only fair and natural." - Dan Callahan, Slant

We agonized over what to show on Valentine's Day, and can say with certainty that all romantics will understand why we chose Seventh Heaven. The inspired casting of Janet Gaynor made for a landmark film with Murnau's Sunrise, but her appearance opposite Charles Farrell in Frank Borzage's Seventh Heaven resulted, without question, in one of the defining romantic films. Its enrapturing love story follows two Parisians thrown together by maudlin circumstances. With a perfect balance of intensity and tenderness, the film produces something miraculous--a story that beautifully affirms the overpowering nature of love, without a hint of irony, apology, or restraint. To round out the evening, we will also present a short film program of love-themed silent comedies Come spend a romantic evening with the Cinefamily--a beautiful old art deco theatre, cupcakes, a short program of silent comedies, and live musical accompaniment to a silent romantic masterpiece.
Dir. Frank Borzage, 1927, 35mm, 110 min.
Tickets - $15

2/15 @ 8pm
2 Blessed 2 B Stressed
Pittsburgh artist Jacob Ciocci, one of the three primary members of the East Coast art collective Paper Rad, will present at the Cinefamily a new twenty-minute mix of original videos and animations. Jacob's work is concerned with the relationships between popular culture, technology and notions of transcendence, all mixed inside a frenzied cartoon universe that is simultaneously celebratory and critical. Jacob will also be performing "I Let My Nightmares Go" which uses a video projector and live dance moves to grapple with mental demons, Web 2.0, G.O.D., 21st-century breakdown, real lies and fake truths, cartoon violence, and awareness bracelets. In addition, San Diego-based electro-sci-fi-metal act Fortress of Amplitude will perform.
Tickets - $12

2/22 @ 8pm
Viva
"With a plot stripped from a 1969 letter to Penthouse Magazine, Viva tells the story of Barbi, a naïve housewife who sets out to discover the seedy underbelly of the sexual revolution. With her best friend Sheila in tow, she encounters everything from prowling cougars, grandmotherly brothel madams and lesbian supermodels to full-blown orgies. Toss in a gay hairdresser, a funk-gasmic soundtrack and some surreal animated and musical sequences and you’ve got one smoking hot slice of nouveau cult cinema. Director Anna Biller’s truly amazing accomplishment in Viva comes courtesy of her uncannily authentic design. It doesn’t emulate the spirit of those swinging times, it’s possessed by them. Just one whiff of the cheap cologne, one glance at the rugged polyester, and you’ll have to submit to this killer escapade." –Fab Magazine
Dir. Anna Biller, 2007, Digibeta, 120 min.
Tickets - $12

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